20 MARCH 2018

Anatomy of Controversy

By John Lumpkin: This was a strange fight(Bradley Vs Pacquiao) to watch. The scoring seemed even stranger, but there were clues that despite the punch stat numbers, Harold Lederman’s scorecard and the announcer’s confidence that the fight was not going to go Pacquaio’s way.

Bradley simply looked more like Bradley than Pacquiao like Pacquaio. For whatever reason, Pacquaio elected to hold back much of his effort until the later part of the round leaving the judges with the impression that Bradley was doing well for the bulk of the round.

Pacquaio buzzed Bradley a few times and was clearly the heavier puncher, but his punches did not have the affect we are accustomed to seeing. There was nothing sensational about the performance that made it obvious that Pacquiao was that same dominant fighter that blew through such an impressive array of fighters over the past seven years.

Pacquaio looked mortal and Bradley determined. The longer the fight went, the more comfortable Bradley began to look and more effective he appeared to be. Or more appropriately, the less effective Pacquiao was appearing. It gave the impression that had the fight been longer, Bradley may have taken over. Still the decision was shocking.